Season of the ukulele 278: "YOU CAN'T SEE THE WOOD FOR THE TREES"

Walking in the woods alone can be a dangerous and scary thing. I first heard this song at a campfire in the woods in 1966. Based on a Mother Goose Fairytale published in 1697 by Charles Perrault.

 
A song that doesn't mention woods, forests or trees in the title itself, but imagery of woods and trees runs right through the song. After coming home to the grim news of Grenfell Tower (less than 2 miles from my home), didn't really fancy taking on anything upbeat.



​Perfectly understand that, Paul! Thanks so much for contributing!
 
John Gorka has been my friend since his college days at Moravian College. At the time he was a volunteer at Godfrey Daniels Coffee House in Bethlehem. I remember the night he came in and said he had just written his first song. He is now one of the preeminent singer/songwriters in the contemporary Folk Scene. This is my favorite song of his!

 
Mango Tree by Australian Bro-sis act Angus & Julia Stone. I especially like "Private Lawns" by them, too, as well as other songs. This one seemed a natural, though, because I thought my mango uke would be here to do it on. Maybe next week will have a fruit theme... or snakes, as I think of green mambas when I think of mango trees, as they like the trees, too. (grasping for reasons to use a mango uke)

... to explain: I had a mango tree in my yard in East Africa (1966-1968), and when I went "on safari" with former game hunter C.J.P. Ionides, his crew pulled mambas out of trees with very long grabber poles. ... while I used my longest lens to take pictures. I wanted a longer lens for spitting cobras, but the 200 mm I had proved adequate.
... also, note: the snakes were sent off to Jonathon Leakey in Nairobi for "milking', to make antivenin. Leakey, oldest son of the famous family, still does that. Ionides is long since dead, and I am retired.

 
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Long time no see friends. I've been super busy with side hustles but I'm trying to shake the rust off with this one. Just a short original.
 
And this is me logging off for tonight! (Been feeling a bit "leafless" today; bad touch of dysenTREE! Well, not really, but it sort of fits with the theme.)

A big thank you to today's contreebutors, who were, in order of appearance: Dick, Alan, Rex, Lynda (BEV), Trent, Jodi, Ashley and Benji, Dave (the Silly One), Paul, FiL, Tommy and Mark.
 
I leaf you with some more horrible tree jokes, which I don't think have been aired yet.

# A man went to a Star Trek fancy dress party as a tree ... he was the Captain's LOG!!!!

# I used to spend lots of time with a friend in his tree house. Then we fell out!!!

# What is an acorn? In a nutshell, it's an oak tree!!!!

And one horrible pun:
treeCartridge.jpg

Time is running out ... keep those songs coming in!
 
So this song isn't really about trees. But it has the title of the Season (paraphrased) in the lyrics. I immediately thought of this song for this week as I had originally learned it for Hendulele's Season (written by Mike Nesmith/made famous by Linda Ronstadt) but never found time to record it. I hope this will work for your Season Lil.
 
This song with it's lovely melody dates from about 1640. The tune is a bit older and there's a version in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (which dates from about 1612) where it's called "The Quodling's Delight" (a wonderful title!). It's generally known as "The Oak and The Ash" but there's an alternative title sometimes used: The North Countree Maid's Lament. (boom, boom! couldn't resist that one).
 
I haven't been doing too many videos lately - life has just been getting in the way!

But here's one I've done before - David Mallett's "Garden Song". Remember the line"Old Crow Watching Hungrily / From his perch in Yonder Tree"

So there's my woody reference.

-Kurt

 
This song was even performed on the Muppet Show once. And apparently, even Tom T. Hall recorded it, and he almost never recorded a song he didn't write himself.

 
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